The blame game is in full swing in Thailand over a cab driver getting murdered, and with the crime having a supposed GTA IV connection thus leading to the game being pulled from retailers over there, the Thai Ministry of Health has issued a list of 10 violent video games to avoid for fear that they may spark more violent outbreaks.

This where it gets comical though: You may recall back in December 2007, that Detroit Prosecutor Kym Worthy was given the illustrious title of Gaming Today’s first ever “Idiot of the Day” for her outdated list of violent video games for parents to avoid during the Christmas shopping extravaganza. Well, dear readers, that is the list that the Thai Ministry of Heath sited as gaming titles to avoid. With a few exceptions, mainly Hitman: Blood Money being changed to just Hitman and Grand Theft Auto being abbreviated, it is the exact same list.

What this means, is that the Thai government is too ill-informed of the videogames currently on the market, therefore they surfed the internet until they found a list of games they could blame the ills of their current situation on. I don’t know whether to call that lazy or just plain out of touch with the times. Either way you look at it, the GTA games are being blamed for something any raging psychopath would do regardless if they had played the game or not.

Thanks: Game Politics

Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto IV will be arriving on the PC on November 18 and November 21 in North America and Europe, respectively.

“We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can’t wait for people to play it.”

Developed by series creator Rockstar North and set in Liberty City, the latest installment in the enormously successful Grand Theft Auto series features a painstakingly detailed and life-like city for players to explore; a rich, immersive narrative experience; an original soundtrack highlighting the cultural eclecticism of Liberty City; and newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC.

via: Press Release

When Nintendo first broke the news of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars at E3, people naturally wanted to know more about it. Partly this was because it was about the only interesting thing from their press conference, and partly because all we got for the game was a title logo. Up until now, all we’ve really known about the game is that it will be exclusive to the DS. Now though, it seems you can add “online features” to the very short list of things we know about the game. If you breeze over to the official site for the game, you may notice the distinctive “Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection” logo emblazoned near the bottom. So we know the game with have an online something. Of course, for all we know the whole game could turn out to be another cooking simulator, much like Cooking Mama. It might still have a GTA-inspired story though: “I just got out of prison, but I think I’m finally going to change my ways. Maybe open up a nice restaurant. Hey, Chinatown has some buildings for lease!”

For the first time since the last week in January, Halo 3 has regained the its number one spot in the Xbox 360 top Live titles list. The list is based upon the number of unique users playing each game.

Halo has trailed behind Grand Theft Auto IV and/or Call of Duty 4 every week since the week of January 21. The July 7 release of the Cold Storage map (which was free of charge) likely helped, as did the pending E3 announcement about Bungie’s next Halo project — one which never came. Microsoft has said it will instead be showcasing the mysterious new Halo game at a dedicated event where they can do the game “more justice.”

Anyone want to guess if the game will hold onto its lead for a second week? I’m gonna go ahead and guess that it will, based on my expert analysis of absolutely nothing.

Looking at it now, I’m a little surprised no one had done something like this already. A guy calling himself “Mentok/Burnt Toast” got together with some friends in GTA IV to recreate some scenes from a few famous films. There’s the toll booth scene in Godfather, the ending of Fight Club, and a few more. Most of them are surprisingly well-timed to the actual films’ audio. It does make me wonder when someone’s going to put together the street shootout from Heat.

Recently, Rockstar sent some interesting swag to Popular Mechanics to kick off their holiday sales push. This awesomely shocking bit of swag is none other than a tongue in cheek metal baseball bat complete with the GTA IV logo.

Popular Mechanics writes:

Because they couldn’t legally send us an Uzi thorough the mail, [Rockstar] sent us the 14th most deadly weapon in the blockbuster game’s new arsenal: a metal bat… It just arrived with a press release informing us “‘Tis the Season To Swing Big and Go GRAND,” promoting GTA IV as a perfect stocking-stuffer for the Christmas season.

But who needs the game when you’ve got the bat? In the spirit of giving, we can now give a GTA-style beat-down to random strangers on the street, just like our favorite Eastern European criminal thug, Niko Bellic. And when the cops catch us, we can say that we never would have done it were it not for the influence of violent video games. And for the first time, we’d be right!

Oh, Rockstar, you are just asking for it. As much as I enjoy your shenanigans and your games, this time, I think the backlash will be much more interesting that usual. While I am all for pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable behavior in society and what is frowned upon, this is just a little too extreme. Hilarious, but too extreme considering all the crap that our favorite numbskull JT has caused, one would think that the controversy surrounding the GTA IV release would be enough. I guess not, but more power to them. They have enough money to quell the backlash should something unsavory arise due to the baseball bat stunt.

That being said, what the hell do I have to do to get one, Rockstar?

Via: GamePolitics

The 2,676 people who filed claims against Rockstar in the “Hot Coffee” class action lawsuit will be splitting a monetary settlement of less than $30,000, according to the New York Times.

The contents of the settlement which Jonathan reported yesterday, stated that the customers who were offended by the sexual mini-game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would be granted anywhere from $5 to $35 each, or a revised edition of the game. Those who were “offended” had to enter a certain code to even get to the content, so if they did it was their own fault in the first place if they were offended.

Take-Two stated that the claims amount to less than $30,000 but unfortunately the company spent $1.3 million in legal fees. Add to this the $860,000 charitable donation the company agreed to and you get a bill totaling $2.19 million plus the production cost of the altered game and the distribution of it.

However, there is still the possibility, although small, that the civil lawsuit can still go to trial. The  settlement will go before Manhattan’s Federal District Court for final approval next Wednesday, so keep your eyes peeled for more details.

Via: New York Times

Anyone who’s played GTA IV remembers that infamous rape scene in the game, which allowed to accumulate points and…what’s that? You…you don’t remember that? Oooooh, that’s right, because there wasn’t one. Well, try explaining that to Connecticut Senator, Gayle Slossberg (D). She’s apparently convinced that the rape scene is there, she just has to get far enough along in the game to access it. At a press conference last week, she stated a law requiring clearer warning labels was needed to curb the corruption of youth. She doesn’t seem to know quite what the labels should read though, considering this statement on them:

“I mean what would it say? ‘This game will make you a sociopath’?”

Yeah, they really need to label those games better to make sure parents know about all the wild and crazy scenarios that aren’t actually in the game itself. Like how in Pokemon Snap, Pikachu would sometimes sell you drugs in exchange for sexual favors. That got you bonus points from Professor Oak, as I recall.

Via New Haven Advocate

Still holding out for a Grand Theft Auto movie? Well, there’s just one little snag. It seems Take-Two actually cannot make a movie with the title “Grand Theft Auto.” That’s because back in 1977, Fox released a film written, directed, and starring Ron Howard by that exact name. Right now, Fox Atomic owns the rights to the title. According to a studio insider though, any sort of follow-up to that movie is highly unlikely:

“Yes, Fox owns the Corman movie. Yes, it has been one of 400 development projects for several years. But they are nowhere on the script. It has certainly not been a front-burner project.”

Furthermore, an agreement between the two companies says that Fox cannot make a game with that title, and Take-Two can’t release a movie with it either. I’m not sure if that leaves the possibility of a movie titled “GTA: Grand Theft Auto” or something open, though I kind of doubt it. Point is: this is one big hurdle a movie based on the game would have to overcome, since it’s the title that would mostly sell it to gamers.

Via Deadline Hollywood Daily

Ready for a bit of news that shouldn’t surprise many gamers out there? Well, you remember that class-action lawsuit over the hidden sex scenes in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that ended with anyone who bought the game being entitled to either an edited disc or up to $35 in cash? Millions of people would have been able eligible for their piece of the settlement, but of those, only 2,676 were actually offended enough to file a claim. And the lawyers pushing the case are naturally dumb-founded:

“Am I disappointed? Sure,” said Seth R. Lesser, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs. “We can’t guess as to why now, several years later, people care or don’t care. The merits of the case were clear.”

In fact, it seems the only people to really come out on top of this dispute are the lawyers themselves, who stand to make around $1.3 million in legal fees. The reasons behind this are summed up pretty well by Theodore H. Frank, a lawyer who also happens to be a gamer:

“There are two possibilities,” Mr. Frank said of the settlement. “Possibility one is they have a meritorious lawsuit and they’re selling out the class for attorneys’ fees. The other possibility is that, and frankly I think this is the more likely possibility, they brought a meritless lawsuit that had no business being brought to court at all.”

So basically, after all the hullabaloo from politicians, lawyers, and various concerned people, it looks like the people who weren’t offended were the majority of people who actually played the game. Well that or people just didn’t know about the lawsuit, didn’t have proof of purchase anymore, or something like that. Point is: this turned out a be a huge waste of time for everyone that isn’t a lawyer.

Via New York Times